Military vehicles such as the HMMWV were not typically designed with soldier comfort in mind. Instead, the driving force behind the design of such vehicles is ruggedness, the ability to traverse difficult terrain, and protection of the vehicle occupants. In some military vehicles, for example, the seats for the vehicle occupants are no more than metal benches.
Terrorists have long used weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, (RPGs) mines, IEDs, and other explosives in an attempt to defeat military vehicles.
Armor for such military vehicles is known and disclosed in patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,928,575; 5,170,690; 5,191,166; and 5,333,532. There have also been attempts to design military vehicles to withstand blasts from beneath the vehicle.
And, offerings are now being made for more ergonomic and crashworthy seats for military vehicles. See, for example, U.S. published patent application No. U.S. 2008/0018156 incorporated herein by this reference.
Still, the market is desirous of more advanced seating technologies. For example, seats with crushable pads and/or panels may not adequately protect the occupant from all blasts or dynamic events. In some cases, even large military vehicles have suffered blasts which lift the entire vehicle several feet into the air. The shock of the vehicle returning to the ground is quite severe. Many known damping systems failed to take into account these secondary impact events.